New Camera. Advice please.

[Sideshow#36]

Hey all, well after seeing some photos flying round on the site I wouldnt mind buying a new SLR.

I used to be into photography a few years back and I had a Pentax SLR.

But when the time came to replace it, I bought a diddy camera instead. That is on its last legs now and pretty bored of it.

My budget is propbaly about £250/£300 at a push, so I may have to settle for a intermediate SLR.

I dont think I'll get anything top notch for that kind of money but it would be nice to get an idea of whats available. Top of the range down to my sort of price.

Cheers in advance, :cool:

[Warren]

quick, get into jessops, you can get yourself a nikon D40 for 270 quid,

people will come along in a min and tell you the canon 400d is better, then jessops will tell you the same, because they want commision. they will say that the nikon D40 is only a 6 megapixel camera, and the 400d is a 10 mp camera.

but then , any expert will tell you that the mega pixel isnt important, its the guy behind the camera, and its the lens that you use,

the 10 mp will only come in useful if you intend to blow your images up huge, like A3 or something like that.

here are some shots that ive taken (very amaturish with the D40)
http://photos-a.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sctm/v124/227/108/580160999/n580160999_401236_4992.jpg

http://photos-a.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sctm/v124/227/108/580160999/n580160999_401244_3972.jpg

http://photos-a.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sctm/v124/227/108/580160999/n580160999_408328_7892.jpg

http://photos-999.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-sctm/v124/227/108/580160999/n580160999_410065_1873.jpg

[Warren]

http://photos-b.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sctm/v124/227/108/580160999/n580160999_482701_363.jpg

[Warren]

http://photos-c.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sctm/v124/227/108/580160999/n580160999_482702_677.jpg

[Sideshow#36]

Must admit, ther isnt really any need for anything higher than about 8mp, but in saying that the D40X has caught my eye but its a 10.2.

Apart from the gap in MP is there any other differences between the D40 and D40X?

:cool:

[Amanda M]

The D40's great. I've got one and love it. £270 - what a bargain! I don't think there are many differences between the D40x and the D40 except for MPs.

[Pedro68]

I would love to get another SLR camera ... I used to have a Canon EOS 300 ... fantastic camera which I just couldn't do justice to, so I gave it away to my gf at the time who COULD do it justice ... kinda wish I hadn't now LOL

I have a Sony Cybersh1t 3.2mp camera ... on my Sony Ericsson K810i :) LOL

Oh and a Fuji Finepix E500 5mp digital compact camera ... which is ok for most bog-standard stuff, but isn't a patch on a decent digital SLR (obviously).

[stewie]

If you can push your budget a but higher Id go for the new olympus E 410 its got a lot of very good reviews recently, pc world are doing a kit for £399.00 at the min but you could probably find it cheaper on here www.pricerunner.co.uk (http://www.pricerunner.co.uk)

[Biker_Billy]

Have you thought about a secondhand Canon 350D - am sure you could pick one up for 200 quid or so..

You don't mention if you have any lenses - that normally dictates the brand which you go for...?

[Sideshow#36]

No I got rid of all my lenses. Bugger I didnt realise they were interchangable between 35mm and digital?

[johnnyrod]

I have an old Pentax Super A 35mm which is great but I was looking for a new tele zoom lens, and found that many lenses are only digi or film, most odd. Anyway I believe 11MP is the equivalence between good film and digital in terms of resolution, obviously what you do with it makes a difference too. I would to go digital SLR but for 10MP they start at £500 for a Sony and I'm not aware of them having been in cameras as long as Canon and the like.

[Warren]

Must admit, ther isnt really any need for anything higher than about 8mp, but in saying that the D40X has caught my eye but its a 10.2.

Apart from the gap in MP is there any other differences between the D40 and D40X?

:cool:

the only differences between the D40 and D40x, is the megapixel, and the D40x has a slightly higher FPS when shooting on continous shooting mode, which isnt really noticable in my humble opinion.

and the price oviously,

[fizzwheel]

£270 for a D40, thats a bargain. I've got one, I'm really really pleased with mine and at that price I'd be even more pleased with it. I looked at DSLR's quite alot, I personal think that the colour depth is slightly better on the Nikon than the Cannon, but thats just my personal interpretation.

I'm not brilliant with mine and I'm still learning how to use all the complicated manual stuff.A few of my pics

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e344/fizzwheel/dragonfly.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e344/fizzwheel/DSC_0033.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e344/fizzwheel/Thruxton/CSC_0469.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e344/fizzwheel/Donny%202007/CSC_0558.jpg

[Warren]

hi fizz, just wondering, what lense did u use for the 1st pic ? and the flaming exhaust pic ?

[Biker_Billy]

I have an old Pentax Super A 35mm which is great but I was looking for a new tele zoom lens, and found that many lenses are only digi or film, most odd. Anyway I believe 11MP is the equivalence between good film and digital in terms of resolution, obviously what you do with it makes a difference too. I would to go digital SLR but for 10MP they start at £500 for a Sony and I'm not aware of them having been in cameras as long as Canon and the like.

Not really digi or film only - part of the issue is the focal length will be different - I have a film 70-300 lens - on my canon its more like a 100-400 as it isnt a full frame digital (very few are)
Sometimes admittedly, the autofocus may not work on older lenses - but my lens is 10 years old and works fine...

[Warren]

if your after lenses, ive found ebay has some sellers that sell them pretty cheap, like nearly 100 pounds cheaper than retail outlets.

[fizzwheel]

hi fizz, just wondering, what lense did u use for the 1st pic ? and the flaming exhaust pic ?

I spent a bit extra when I bought my D40 and got another lens as well as the kit lens. Its a Nikon 55 - 200mm lens and thats what I used for both those pics, the flaming exhaust one I zoomed in on the camera and cropped the image a little though.

[Biker_Billy]

if your after lenses, ive found ebay has some sellers that sell them pretty cheap, like nearly 100 pounds cheaper than retail outlets.

There are some honest ones - but beware of the sellers from Hong Kong tho - there do seem to be a lot

[Warren]

I spent a bit extra when I bought my D40 and got another lens as well as the kit lens. Its a Nikon 55 - 200mm lens and thats what I used for both those pics, the flaming exhaust one I zoomed in on the camera and cropped the image a little though.

cool,
we borrowed the 55-200mm nikon lense from my other half's father when we went on holiday and had a play with it.

just wondering like, as i think the smallest aperature number that it could go to was f3.8 i think, and in the first pic, it has a really shallow depth of field which made me curious.(the area thats in focus)

im currently searching for a cheap 18mm lens for the D40 so that i can take the aperature all the way down to f2.1

i wouldnt mind having a play with the 55-200mm lens with the VR (vibration reduction) as i found shooting at 200mm required a very steady hand in any other lighting other than outdoor sun, and im not the kinda guy to lug a tripod around with me wherever i go.

[Warren]

There are some honest ones - but beware of the sellers from Hong Kong tho - there do seem to be a lot

just wondering, are the hong kong lenses likely to be inferior compared to the UK lenses then ?

[fizzwheel]

just wondering like, as i think the smallest aperature number that it could go to was f3.8 i think, and in the first pic, it has a really shallow depth of field which made me curious.(the area thats in focus)

I have to admit, that I had the camera on full auto mode when I took that picture. I was worried that the dragonfly would fly away before I got a picture of it so I just left the camera in auto and crept as close as I dared and then used the zoom to get that shot. I was glad I did as it flew away after I got that picture, I think I got to close and I disturbed it.

I took all those pictures without a tripod, I find the lens works pretty well in all weathers, I havent had any "Shake" problems, so I think I must have a pretty steady hand. My mates got a 300mm lens with the anti VR stuff on it and I found with that lens with the bigger zoom the VR stuff really made a big difference.

I'm still learning so I tend to take a few pics in auto mode or one of the preset modes just so I've got pics of what I want and then I start fiddling with the shutter speed / aperture settings. I've got a good one of carlos checa from donnington this year that i took with the camera on one of the manula modes... hang on I'll go and find it.

Edit here it is

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e344/fizzwheel/Donny%202007/CSC_0546.jpg

[mac99]

I don't want to derail a thread about SLRs, but I've also just recently been thinking about getting a better camera.

I want something that can be taken on rideouts / days out etc in place of my current Nikon 7900 compact, which is annoying me more and more. Seem to get nothing but missed opportunities and ruined shots.

Reqs:
Works well in auto mode in lots of conditions when just taking snapshots.
Portable and robust. (all relative of course)
Some control over settings, so that i can have a bit of a play, see if I want to take it further, or when taking more staged shots.
Fast shutter response time
Decent zoom.
I'm not too concerned about printing out, mostly just going to be looking at them on screen.

With this in mind I was thinking that what they call a Bridge or Super Zoom camera would be the way to go. I bought the current issue of What Digital Camera, and they have a review of the canon powershot S5is. On paper the spec sounds ideal, but they give it a rather lukewarm review.

So. Is the bridge camera idea the right way to go, and if so any recommendations? Or should I go for something like the D40 with a general purpose lens? As I'm sure is obvious I'm pretty much clueless about this


The rrp of the canon is £350 I think, and this seems about right to me. Don't mind going up another hundred though if that's what'll get me what I'm after.

[Biker_Billy]

just wondering, are the hong kong lenses likely to be inferior compared to the UK lenses then ?

No - exactly the same stuff - although, not sure about the warrenty. Also, Ive heard stories of buyers being charged import tax, which brought the cost of the item to more than retail in the UK - and having to wait 6 weeks for it...

[Biker_Billy]

I don't want to derail a thread about SLRs, but I've also just recently been thinking about getting a better camera.

I want something that can be taken on rideouts / days out etc in place of my current Nikon 7900 compact, which is annoying me more and more. Seem to get nothing but missed opportunities and ruined shots.

Reqs:
Works well in auto mode in lots of conditions when just taking snapshots.
Portable and robust. (all relative of course)
Some control over settings, so that i can have a bit of a play, see if I want to take it further, or when taking more staged shots.
Fast shutter response time
Decent zoom.
I'm not too concerned about printing out, mostly just going to be looking at them on screen.

With this in mind I was thinking that what they call a Bridge or Super Zoom camera would be the way to go. I bought the current issue of What Digital Camera, and they have a review of the canon powershot S5is. On paper the spec sounds ideal, but they give it a rather lukewarm review.

So. Is the bridge camera idea the right way to go, and if so any recommendations? Or should I go for something like the D40 with a general purpose lens? As I'm sure is obvious I'm pretty much clueless about this


The rrp of the canon is £350 I think, and this seems about right to me. Don't mind going up another hundred though if that's what'll get me what I'm after.

Hi Mac,

Before I got my SLR, I had a bridge camera - a Fuji finepix - and I have to say that the quality for the money was incredible - 10x optical zoom - good lens with a wide aperture. The only area that let it down (and most bridge cameras) is the shutter lag which means action shots are out of the question to a degree.

On a different note, I have a works camera which I took on holiday (shouldnt have said that!) - Pentax Optio W20 - good compact camera, but its trump card is that its waterproof - looks just like a normal digital camera - but I had it in 2m of water in corfu taking underwater shots of fish...good if you need that sort of flexibility...?

Edit - A mate of mine has the Powershot S3 - he loves it, and it does take cracking photos...apart form that, I can't help

For cheap prices, look ar warehouseexpress.co.uk

HTH,

BB

[SoulKiss]

No - exactly the same stuff - although, not sure about the warrenty. Also, Ive heard stories of buyers being charged import tax, which brought the cost of the item to more than retail in the UK - and having to wait 6 weeks for it...

Please, no-one start going on about import tax and rip-off britain.......

Can we have a ban on that topic till Jan 2008?

:P

[mac99]

Cheers Billy.

My research so far has convinced me that it is one of these super zoom bridge cameras I want. Now it's just figuring out which one.

The contenders seem to be:

Fuji S8000fd (http://www.fujifilm.co.uk/consumer/digital/digital-cameras/d-slr-long-zoom/finepix-s8000)

Panasonic FZ18 (http://www.panasonic.co.uk/high-zoom/dmc-fz18eb-k/index.htm)

Olympus SP560 (http://www.olympus.co.uk/consumer/29_17482.htm)

Canon S5IS (http://www.canon.co.uk/For_Home/Product_Finder/Cameras/Digital_Camera/PowerShot/PowerShot_S5_IS/index.asp)


Don't know how to choose between them at this point. I was thinking of going into a proper shop and wasting their time. Lots of branches of Jessops in Bristol ,but I assume that's like buying a computer from PC World. Anyone know anything about Clifton Cameras (http://www.cliftoncameras.co.uk/) or Bristol Cameras (http://www.bristolcameras.co.uk/) ?

[stewie]

Cheers Billy.

My research so far has convinced me that it is one of these super zoom bridge cameras I want. Now it's just figuring out which one.

The contenders seem to be:

Fuji S8000fd (http://www.fujifilm.co.uk/consumer/digital/digital-cameras/d-slr-long-zoom/finepix-s8000)

Panasonic FZ18 (http://www.panasonic.co.uk/high-zoom/dmc-fz18eb-k/index.htm)

Olympus SP560 (http://www.olympus.co.uk/consumer/29_17482.htm)

Canon S5IS (http://www.canon.co.uk/For_Home/Product_Finder/Cameras/Digital_Camera/PowerShot/PowerShot_S5_IS/index.asp)


Don't know how to choose between them at this point. I was thinking of going into a proper shop and wasting their time. Lots of branches of Jessops in Bristol ,but I assume that's like buying a computer from PC World. Anyone know anything about Clifton Cameras (http://www.cliftoncameras.co.uk/) or Bristol Cameras (http://www.bristolcameras.co.uk/) ?

I would probably go for the panasonic myself great spec and leica lenses with Canon in second place, but thats just me

[Biker_Billy]

Cheers Billy.

My research so far has convinced me that it is one of these super zoom bridge cameras I want. Now it's just figuring out which one.

The contenders seem to be:

Fuji S8000fd (http://www.fujifilm.co.uk/consumer/digital/digital-cameras/d-slr-long-zoom/finepix-s8000)

Panasonic FZ18 (http://www.panasonic.co.uk/high-zoom/dmc-fz18eb-k/index.htm)

Olympus SP560 (http://www.olympus.co.uk/consumer/29_17482.htm)

Canon S5IS (http://www.canon.co.uk/For_Home/Product_Finder/Cameras/Digital_Camera/PowerShot/PowerShot_S5_IS/index.asp)


Don't know how to choose between them at this point. I was thinking of going into a proper shop and wasting their time. Lots of branches of Jessops in Bristol ,but I assume that's like buying a computer from PC World. Anyone know anything about Clifton Cameras (http://www.cliftoncameras.co.uk/) or Bristol Cameras (http://www.bristolcameras.co.uk/) ?

Just one other thing Mac - it may be worth considering how much you want to get into / are into photography? Bridge cameras are great - I think my fuji is one of the best cameras I have had - the only thing that let it down was the shutter lag. The other issue with bridge cameras is their size - some of them are pretty hefty - indeed, not much different to a SLR. If I had 400 quid to spend, I would be tempted with an SLR over a bridge - they are as portable, they will have quicker ****ter response times, and frames per second shooting ability - this is ideal if you want to shoot fast moving images. The only upside of bridge cameras over SLR's in my opinion, is that a lot of bridge cameras come with 10x optical zooms. A std SLR would come with a 17-70 lens, which is equal to less than half that (ish). You can always buy additional lenses of course...

With regard to buying them - go into Jessops - their staff are usually pretty clued up. Go in and have a fondle (oo err) and take some pics yourself. Choose which one you want, then buy it off the web!!

Hope this hasnt confused too much - if you decide to go for a bridge - all of the above look good to me - try to make sure that the zoom function is hand rotated on the barrel of the lens, rather than a push button like on most compacts - this will definately hinder the use otherwise..

Billy

Edit - try this website for camera info / reviews: http://www.dcmag.co.uk/Camera_Index.aGO1rCw.html

[mac99]

they will have quicker ****ter response times

Very important that. :)


Thanks again for the response, and stewie as well. The review site's not much use as these are all new models, though some are upgrades. I think side by side comparison in a camera shop is the way to go, possibly with the Nikon D40 in the mix as the smallest SLR. Let the salesman talk me into something. :D

[stewie]

Very important that. :)


Thanks again for the response, and stewie as well. The review site's not much use as these are all new models, though some are upgrades. I think side by side comparison in a camera shop is the way to go, possibly with the Nikon D40 in the mix as the smallest SLR. Let the salesman talk me into something. :D
Im kinda in the same boat as you, its the first time in nearly 30 yrs ive not had a camera, ive found it really difficult to convince meself that digital is as good as a really good slide emulsion like velvia or provia, but maybe its time I changed over, good luck with it

[Biker_Billy]

Im kinda in the same boat as you, its the first time in nearly 30 yrs ive not had a camera, ive found it really difficult to convince meself that digital is as good as a really good slide emulsion like velvia or provia, but maybe its time I changed over, good luck with it


Hi Stewie,

In my opinion, unless you go for a full frame high end camera, digital is not as good as velvia - however, I think this is only noticable when reproducing A3+...dont know about you, but I dont do it that often...the massive benefit with digital - apart from not having to pay for developments, is that the all SLR's (I think) allow you to shoot in RAW mode - allowing you to effectively "develop" your own pictures.

Dont be too bothered about pixels either - a 10mp isnt necessarily better than a 8mp camera - its all about how well the ccd uses those pixels. Some 10-12 mp cameras (especially compacts) do suffer from a bit of noise, negating the benefit of the increased pixel count, when compared with some cameras of lower resolutions.

HTH,

BB

[tigersaw]

How do you get the D40 for £270 at Jessops - is that a walk in price? New or recon? Their web price is £336 ish like everyone else, and their discount vouchers dont seem to work either.

[Warren]

How do you get the D40 for £270 at Jessops - is that a walk in price? New or recon? Their web price is £336 ish like everyone else, and their discount vouchers dont seem to work either.

your right, looks like your too late, they were offering it with 60 pound cash back.